Chain dredge bucket



w. H. TAYLOR 4 CHAIN DREDGE BUCKET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 1Q, 1958 g /i l I W. H. TAYLOR CHAIN DREDGE BUCKET Filed June 10, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet g Patented Mar. 12, 1940 UNITED CHAIN DREDGE BUCKET William Hofiman Taylor, Phillinsburg, N. J., as- Signor to Taylor-Wharton Iron & Steel Company, High Bridge, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application June 10, 1938, Serial No. 213,045

15 Claims.

The invention relates to endless chain dredge buckets and provides simple and effective means for holding the linkage pin rigidly stationary in the front eyes under all working conditions to the end of preventing wear on the pins and the front eyes.

The conventional chain dredge bucket has one wide rear eye and two narrow front eyes. Adjoining buckets are connected together by a linkage pin. The buckets so linked together in an endless chain are driven by an upper tumbler or sprocket and pass around an idling lower tumbler located under water where digging takes place at the end of a structural steel supporting member or digging ladder. Thus there is continual pintle or hinge action between the buckets especially when passing over the tumblers. The linkage pins are usually made with an L-head which fits in a recess or slot in the side of the bucket. The fit is close enough at the outset to hold the pin from rocking in the bucket eyes but, as service proceeds, the small amount of backlash is increased and wear takes place in the recess and on the pin head, in consequence of which the pin is caused to rock, which results in wear between its barrel and the forward surfaces of the front eyes. Owing to the hinging or pintle action between the buckets there also is wear between the pin and the wide rear eye, but this is compensated for by renewal of the bushing. However, there is no way of compensating for wear in the front eyes inasmuch as bushings have proved unsatisfactory. Therefore, in order to prevent excessive slack in the 35 bucket chain and consequent shortened life of pins and buckets, it is necessary to prevent rocking of the pins in the front eyes and that is the ultimate purpose of the present invention.

According to the'present invention a jack screw is positioned interlockably along a ledge of the bucket recess, and within the confines thereof, to engage the bottom edge of the pin head for the purpose and with the result of obtaining immediate, positive and direct compensatory adv justments, it being characteristic of the invention that the movement of the adjusting element is normal to the takeup whereby it results.

that each fraction of an inch of movement under adjustment will directly take up an equivalent amount of wear or looseness.

In another embodiment the adjusting element applies thrust or pressure against a wear plate interposed between it and the L-head of the pin. In another specific embodiment the slot for the L-head is so designed and constructed that an integral wall is deflectible at will in order lockably to engage the head and thereby secure the pin against rocking and against endwise movement. When a jack screw is an adjunct, asis contemplated and preferred although other types 5 of pressure applicators maybe employed, the deflectible wall or integral tongue takes the thrust of the screw and saves wear on the head of the pin'or may itself be saved from wear by the use of additional thrust plates or wear members. Whether the member intermediate the head and the jack screw takes the form of an integral tongue or a separate plate or shim it'is useful and advantageous because it distributes the force or pressure of the jack screw uniformly over the effective pressure-receiving area of the head; and being in intimate or close engagement with the head, it tends to exclude sand and other gritlike substances which unless excluded would abrasively wear away the head.

The invention in its preferred embodiments is illustrated in the accompanying drawings where- Figure l is a sectional elevational view showing the application of the invention. 5

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 33 of Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig; 1 showing the invention applied to a tapered head.

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevational view showing the use of the jack screw without the intervention of the resilient or defiectible elementr'and Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

In the drawings, the numeral ti represents a linkage pin having an L head 6; and l repre sents a dredge bucket. Save in the particulars hereinafter stated, the bucket and pin may be'as usual and it will be understood that in the practice of the invention the L head of the 'pin is lodged in a side wall depression or recess of the bucket in order to prevent rotation of the pin and in order to hold it against casual endwise movement. The recess will conform, as is usual, to the shape of the head, that is to say, its opposed walls may be parallel, as in Fig; l, or they may be divergent so as to accommodate a tapered head as in Fig. 4.

Referring to that part of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, it will be noted that the upper recess wall 8 is formed as usual and adjustments of the pin. This is in line with my inventive thought of providing for adjustments normal to the take-up. Manifestly, there is a wide choice of devices for operating the resilient tongue and it will be understood that this disclosure is by way of illustration and not of limitation. However, it is a merit of the invention that it employs a pressure applicator operating on the principle of the jack screw. The adjusting element shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 has proven eminently satisfactory in practice and for that reason is preferred. It embodies a jack screw H with its complemental collar and nutted ends bearing, respectively, against a fixed part of the bucket and against the defiectible wall or tongue 9. The latter is formed or provided with a recess or socket E2 to receive the upper end of the jack screw and permit its nut 13 to impinge against the deflectible wall. The offset rib or ledge i l of the bucket is formed or provided with an abutment 15, the top of which is finished on an inclined plane in order to support the jack screw in slantwise direction in conformity with the angular disposition of the defiectible or resilient recess-defining wall 9. In order effectively to anchor the screw cup or collar i6 and restrain it against turning movement, it has a feather ll which is seated in a corresponding slot 58 in the abutment [5. It will be understood that by manipulating the nut E3 the jack screw will be effective to apply or to release pressure on the spring tongue in order to lock or to release the head of the pin.

The embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is not substantially unlike the construction and arrangement shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. It merely involves the application of the invention to conditions in which the head slot or recess conforms to a tapered head i9.

Figs. 5 and 6 show another embodiment of the invention for immediate and positive compensatory adjustments normal to the takeup. According to this example, the defiectible tongue is omitted, pressure being applied directly to the head in cooperation with the upper wall of the slot or recess. The latter is undercut as at 29 and the face 2i of the head is finished on a correspondingly inclined plane. The conventional rib 22, when present, is useful as a backstop to keep the comated parts of the head and recess in proper alignment under pressure exerted by the jack screw 23.

The use of a thrust plate intermediate the jack screw and the L-head is advantageous because it is effective to distribute the thrust of the screw uniformly over the bottom edge of the head of the pin and because it is effective to exclude sand and grit and thereby protect the head of the pin from abrasive wear.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new, is:

1. In a chain dredge bucket of the conventional type having a slot to receive the L-head of the linkage pin, means for securing the L-head so as to prevent rocking of the pin, said means characterized by a jack screw arranged between an edge wall of the head and an adjacent ofiset portion of the bucket and carrying a traveler effective to apply sufficient pressure to the L-head to hold it rigidly stationary with relation to an opposed fixed wall of the slot, and a thrust member for the screw adjustably posturable along said offset portion and interlocking therewith to prevent casual displacement of the screw.

2. A chain dredge bucket according to claim 1 in which an element is interposed between the traveller and the L-head to uniformly distribute the thrust and to absorb wear.

3. A dredge bucket having a bearing for a linkage pin and having a seat for the head of the pin, including a movable integral wall to engage the head, and means for applying pressure to said wall whereby in conjunction with a complemental fixed wall of the seat it is effective to lock the head.

l. A dredge bucket having pin eyes and a seat for the head of the pin, a pin having an L head adapted to the seat, said seat having one of its defining walls integrally sprung from the eye stock and defiectible at will to engage and disengage the head.

5. A dredge bucket having pin eyes and a recessed seat for the L head of a linkage pin, and opposed rail-like members defining said seat and whereof one is fixed and whereof the other is deflectible at will.

6. A dredge bucket having pin eyes and a recessed seat for the L head of a linkage pin, opposed rail-like members defining said seat and whereof one is fixed and whereof the other is deflectible at will, and means for deflecting it.

7. The invention set forth in claim 6 in which said means is substantially within the confines of the side walls of the bucket.

8. A dredge bucket having bearings for the barrel of a linkage pin and a seat for the head of the pin, said seat being defined by opposed walls whereof one is fast at one end to the bucket and is otherwise floated, and a pressure applicator operatively mounted with relation to the floating portion.

9. A dredge bucket having pin eyes, a pin having an L head, a seat for the L head in the side wall of the bucket and defined by walls whereof one is fixed and whereof the other is defiectible at will, and a jack screw mounted on the side wall of the bucket for deflecting said wall.

10. A dredge bucket having pin eyes, a pin having an L head, an angularly disposed seat shaped to conform to the head and comprising opposed wall sections one of which is defiectible at will, an abutment on the bucket, and means on the abutment and on the deflectible wall for centering a pressure applicator.

11. A chain dredge bucket in which the head of the linkage pin associated therewith is seated between two members whereof one is fixed and whereof the other is an integrally sprung member and is defiectible for locking the head in place, combined with means for actuating the defiectible member, said means including a member adjustable lengthwise of the fixed member.

12. A chain dredge bucket having pin eyes and a seat for the head of the linkage pin, a pin having an L-head adapted to the seat, and means for applying pressure against an edge of the head to hold it rigidly stationary, said means comprising a screw jack having an anchorage slidably mounted on a part of the bucket within the plane of the seat, said slide mounting comprising co-mated parts effective to prevent casual displacement of the screw jack.

13. In a chain dredge bucket of the conventional type having a slot to receive the L-head of the linkage pin, the combination of an L-head flush seated in the slot, means for securing the L-head so as to prevent rocking of the pin, said means comprising a jack screw and its complemental provisions capable of application and removal as a unit between the head and a fixed part of the bucket within the flush limits of the head and seat, one of said provisions having a tongue-and-groove connection lengthwise of said fixed part of the bucket whereby it is interlockably adjustable along the same, and a protecting plate for the bottom edge of the head and arranged to take the thrust of the jack screw.

14. A chain dredge bucket in which the head of the linkage pin associated therewith is seated between two members whereof one is fixed and whereof the other is an integrally sprung member and is deflectible for locking the head in place, combined with means capable of handling as a unit for actuating the defiectible member, said means comprising a screw and its accessories for applying pressure on said sprung member, one of said accessories being interlockably adjustable along said fixed member.

15. A chain dredge bucket having pin eyes for the. reception of the linkage pin and having a side slot to receive the offset head of the pin, one wall of the slot being substantially coextensive with the head and establishing a binding fit with an edge wall'thereof under pressure exerted upon the other edge Wall, the opposed wall of the slot being spaced from the head and providing longitudinally one member of a tongue-andgroove connection, and means for exerting pressure on the head to cause it to take said binding fit, said means comprising a screw jack and its end thrust devices arranged intermediate the head and the spaced wall of the slot, one of said end thrust devices serving as the other member of said tongue-and-groove connection, whereby the screw jack is held against casual displacement in any adjusted position.

WILLIAM HOFFMAN TAYLOR. 

